The present invention relates to a feeding apparatus for a metal belting and a manufacturing apparatus for fins of a heat exchanger, and more precisely relates to a feeding apparatus for a metal belting having a plurality of through-holes, which are provided in a feeding direction of the metal belting with prescribed intervals, and a manufacturing apparatus for Fins of a heat exchanger having said feeding apparatus.
Fins of a heat exchanger, such as an air conditioner, are shown in FIG. 12. Collared through-holes 104 are formed in ia longitudinal direction of a thin metal plate ].02, which is made of aluminum, etc.. Each collared through-hole 104 has, as clearly shown in FIG. 12B, a through-hole section 106 and a collar section 108 having a flange section. Heat tubes are pierced through the collared through-holes 104 so as to enlarge heat conductive area, so that heat conductivity of the heat exchanger can be raised.
Furthermore, to raise heat conductivity, there are formed louvers 112 between the collared through-holes 104. The louvers 112 are, as clearly shown in FIG. 12C, formed by bending narrow stripe sections, which are formed by slitting a metal belting, upward and downward.
The fin 100 also has corner-cut sections 110 so as to avoid interference with members, which are provided close to the fin 100.
The fin 100 is normally made of a wide metal belting 120 shown in FIG. 13. A plurality of fins 100 are simultaneously formed.
The steps of making the fins 100 are:
forming the louvers 112 on the metal belting 120 (Step-L);
barring to bore small holes for the collared through-holes 104 (Step-B);
ironing the small holes to form the hole sections 106 and the collar sections 108 (Step-A); and
bending front ends of the collar sections 108 to form flange sections (Step-F).
By the above described steps, a plurality of lines of the collared through-holes 104 and the louvers 112 are formed mutually parallel in the longitudinal direction of the metal belting 120.
After the Step-F, there are further steps of:
forming cut sections 122, which will be formed into the corner-cut sections 110 (see FIG. 12), etc., between the lines of the through-holes 104 (Step-N);
slitting the metal belting 120 alongside each line of the through-holes 104 to make slit plates 124 (Step-S); and
cutting the slit plates 124 to prescribed length (Step-C).
During the sequential steps, it is difficult to push the thin metal belting 120 for feeding them for said steps shown in FIG. 13. Therefore, a feeding apparatus for feeding the slit plates 124 from Step-S to Step-C is normally used.
A conventional feeding apparatus is shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B. A reciprocal traveler 160 can be reciprocatively moved right and left by driving means (not shown). A pin 180 is provided in the reciprocal traveler 160 and always biased upward by a spring 200. A part of an upper end of the pin is formed into a slope. A part of the upper end of the pin 180 is projected from an upper face of the reciprocal traveler 160 and an upper face of a basic plate, on which the slit plate 124 having the collared through-holes 104 is supported. The pin 180 is capable of integrally moving with the reciprocal traveler 160.
In FIG. 11A, if the reciprocal traveler 160 moves in the direction of an arrow E, the part of the upper end of the pin 180, which is projected from the upper face of the basic plate, fits into the collared through-hole 104, which is on the basic plate and corresponds to a slit 140 thereof, and comes into contact with an inner face of the collared through-hole 104, so that the pin 180 is capable of pushing the collared through-hole 14 in the direction of an arrow D. By pushing the collared through-hole 14, the slit plate 124 can be moved together with the reciprocal traveler 160.
On the other hand, in FIG. 11B, if the reciprocal traveler 160 moves in the opposite direction, the direction of an arrow G, the slip plate 124 is practically at a standstill. Namely, the pin 180 moves in the direction G keeping the slope of the upper end in contact with an edge of the collared through-hole 104, and a force against tile spring 200 works on the pin 180. By the force working on the pin 180, the pin 180 is gradually pushed into the reciprocal traveler 160 and the projected height thereof becomes lower, so that the pin 180 comes out from the collared through-hole 104 The upper end of the pin 180, which has come out, slides on the bottom face of the slit plate 124 and fits into the next collared through-hole 104 without substantially applying force to the slit plate 124.
In the feeding apparatus of FIGS. 11A and 11B, the slit plate 124 can be fed in the direction D. Therefore, if the pin 180 is provided for every slit plate 124, the metal belting 102 (see FIG. 13) also can be fed in the direction D.
However, in the conventional feeding apparatus, the metal belting 102 is fed intermittently. If a rotary disk cutter, which is capable of continuously slitting the metal belting 102, is used in said Step-S as a slitter, it is difficult to show full performance of the slitter.
If the slit plate 124 is cut to a prescribed length by a cutter in said Step-C, it is necessary to stop the movement of the feeding pins to locate the slit plate 124. But the slope of the upper end of the pin 180 (see FIGS. 11A and fits into the collared through-hole 104, so it is impossible to locate the slit plate 124 by the pin 180 only, and locating means is required. Therefore, a machining apparatus for the following steps, which includes a slitter and a cutter, must be complex in structure.
In the Japanese Patent Kokai Gazette No. 1-166823, a manufacturing apparatus for fins of a heat exchanger is disclosed. The manufacturing apparatus comprises a press machine having a die set for said Step-A and Step-F, and machining apparatus including an intermediate die set for said Step-N, a slitter for said Step-S and a cutter for said The press machine and the machining apparatus are mutually separated. If the slitter and the cutter are provided close to the intermediate die set, it is necessary to accurately locate the collared through-holes 104 so as to avoid an interference between the collared through-holes 104 and the intermediate die set. Therefore, the machining apparatus including the intermediate die set, the slitter and the cutter must be as large as the press machine having the die set for said Step-A. Namely, the machining apparatus must be large.